Forlorn
by Karnij
Summary: Eren and Mikasa are left alone after a virus outbreak 3 months ago. Over half of the population has been wiped out. They're left struggling to survive from things that can only be described as "undead". They meet others in their endeavor, but who is the real enemy here?
1. Prologue

"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it."

-Henry David Thoreau

The blaze of red danced before me, waltzing and weaving it's way across the black concrete and buildings around me. It's glow illuminated the world in a hot, fiery, red. I could smell the burning of wood, metal, plastic, and even the horrid and appalling smell of flesh. Screams echoed and bounced all around me, their cries loud at first, but soon muffled by the ripping of skin and choking of wind pipes. I couldn't budge no matter how hard I tried. I was glued to one spot as I watched the world fall apart around me in a crimson mass. Silence didn't seem to exist or even have a definition at this moment. Everything was hot, burning, boiling, but even still I felt a cold sweat break down my neck as I swallowed the lump in my throat. It was the same dream every night...Every night i'd see, from my stationary spot in the middle of all the chaos, everything I knew and loved covered in fire and blood. Everything I knew...was being ripped apart in front of me by things that could only be described as "undead".

It's ridiculous, I know, and sometimes I even tried to give myself the benefit of the doubt, like this calamity didn't actually happen, that it's NOT happening right now again and again, but I couldn't deny what my eyes were seeing. Everything was a blur. Shapes moved around me that I could identify as humans, some slower, some faster, but I couldn't tell the first thing about them. If they were a man, woman, or even the color of their skin. They were all black scratched out figures frantically moving about as other, humanoid blurs, raced after them. The only thing that was clear was the blood. The blood that rained from their necks, stomachs, and bodies. Their organs filled the streets like litter. It didn't affect me as mush as it used to. If anything, seeing intestines sprawled across the street like rope sparked a rage in me I didn't know how to describe. I was angry...but I felt oddly at peace.

A billboard sign from high above broke from it's hinges, the creaks and moans from the rust covered bolts almost mixing in perfectly with the screams of humanity at the brink of destruction. As it came crashing down onto a heap for rubble next to me, creating a small tremor, I didn't even flinch as a piece of rock flew across my face and cut my cheek. The sting set in shortly after and for a split second, I couldn't tell if this was actually a dream or indeed reality. Was this a dream of a dream? Or a dream becoming real? I couldn't tell. If this was indeed real...why was I just standing here? Why wasn't I doing something?

A warm drop of liquid ran down my face, reflecting all the vibrant light around me and shinning against my skin. I felt strength return to my arms as I moved my hand up to touch the place I was cut. When I pulled it away, a think black liquid ran down my fingers, sloppily dripping off my hand in huge droplets. As if like acid, it ate through my skin. It too, slowly splashing off in chunks, reveling the bone hidden beneath.

My eyes widened in horror as a scream escaped my mouth. I frantically shook my hand, trying to rid myself of whatever was on me, but it just seemed to bubble over...as if it tainted the rest of my blood and spread the goo further and further into my body, causing it to eat itself alive. I fell to my feet, reality coming back to me, as my arm began to disintegrate. I could do nothing but stare in dismay and cry at how hopeless this situation was and how bad the pain of the skin being ripped off my body felt. I shook uncontrollably, my legs going into a hysteria , as I tried to grip onto my remaining forearm in an effort to find a means to steady myself, but it didn't help. I gritted my teeth, attempting to not let another cry escape my mouth, but I failed and let out whimpers as I watched my slowly body fall apart.

The blurs moved around me slower now...so slow that it seemed like they stopped moving entirely. Everything began to come into focus once more and I could see all the pained expressions of everyone around me. I could see that some, tried protecting the ones they loved, their children, their family...but it was all for not. Some of the faces around me were normal. Others where not. The other, disfigured ones, were covered in blood, necks snapped to the side, open sores, cuts, missing eyes, everything that would make for an obvious crime or death scene would describe these people, but...they moved. Even more so they hunted. They hunted us. The ones who were still living in an attempt to make us eventually join the ranks of the undead.

I grunted as the black liquid made it's way up to my shoulder now. This was a dream right? Please tell me this was a dream...I "dreamt" about it so much...I began to doubt myself as to what was really the dream...and what was reality. Everything was so real and life like. I could feel the wind hitting my face and strands of my hair lift off my face, sweat tickling down my skin, my head become light...

I heard a goggling noise come from ahead of me. I turned my attention away from my arm for a moment to see a figure, far away from me, but close enough to see, with it's back turned to me. It's long dark brown hair dangled down as it's head stared up at the sky. It stood rather awkwardly, it's knees pointed inward and it's arms hanging off to the side. I continued to stare for a long moment before recognition hit me.

"M-Mom?" I said. It came out as more a chocked sob that anything, but I also sounded a lot younger then I...remembered...It came out as a weird train of thought and I couldn't exactly make sense of it myself, but I sounded like I did years ago.

"..." The body twitched, it's head spazzing at the sound of my voice.

It was a long moment before I heard, "...Eren...?"

I felt a wave of relief fall over me at the sound of my mom's voice, "Mom! Mom help me i'm-"

"ErEN..."

The goggling noise returned as the head turned completely around, the crunches and snaps of the bones accompanying it. My body stiffened in horror, the pain of the acid inside of me disappearing instantly. No. That wasn't my mom. That was...

The body moved towards me, it's graceless, awkward, backwards, movements making it jerk all around. The eyes widened it's stare on me as razor teeth' covered in blood' smiled in sweet anticipation.

"ErEN...WhAt DId yOu dO To MEEeeEEE?" It spat out, inching it's way closer to me, the sounds of bones popping with every step.

I let out a stifled gasp as I continued to grip my arm and tried to scramble my way backwards and away from this monster approaching me. As I slid myself back, I felt my back pressed up against something hard and firm. My neck went rigid as I slowly turned my head around. Behind me was a wall of blurred figures, the only thing visible being their round red eyes, and grinning teeth. They whispered among themselves and I couldn't tell what it was at first, but then it became clear.

"Eren..."

"Eren."

"Ereeeennnnnnnnn..."

They whispered my name mockingly and tauntingly. Like they welcomed me into their home, but they hated me with a passion. Their black hands gripped onto my shoulders, not allowing me to move as the whispers became louder and louder in my ear. I wanted to cover them, but I failed to noticed that the acid was now chewing away my other hand.

"Eren."

"Eren..."

"Ereeeennnnn..."

"ErEN..."

I turned my attention back in front of me to see that, the body of my dead mother, was now on all fours and making a mad dash towards me. I couldn't even scream as the fangs sank into my neck.


	2. A New Day

"Eren."

My eye's jolted open in shock, my breathing coming out deep and ragged. I tried to focus as I frantically looked around, my body on the edge of drowsiness and pure adrenaline. I felt the need to run as my heart pounded against my chest. Where was she? Where was my mom?

"Eren!" a voice said again, this time they grabbed me.

I snapped my head, freaked out, only to see Mikasa by my side. She shushed me in an effort to calm me down, as she let out a heavy sigh. "Same dream?" She asked.  
"...Y-yeah..." I breathed finally feeling my heart calm down and reality set back in. My body ached in places I didn't know existed as I sat up, groaning at the discomfort. I pulled my hand in front of my face and flexed it just to make sure what had happened wasn't real. I studied how my skin moved with the movement of my fingers and never felt so thankful for such an odd thing before.

"...My mom showed up this time." I said still staring at my hand.  
Mikasa kept her usual composure and stared at my hand along with me. I'm sure she didn't understand what I was doing, but didn't bother to question it either. "Carla?" She asked  
I nodded turning my lips into a hard line. "She kept...calling out my name. It terrified me honestly." Turning my hand into a fist. I hesitated before finishing my statement, "She said...I did that to her."

Mikasa averted her eyes from me in thought, "Was she one of them?"  
I couldn't bring myself to say it verbally, so resorted to nodding in agreement. I didn't know exactly what she meant by that, or rather what my subconscious meant. I saw her die right in front of me. The undead tearing her flesh apart as she cried out to me...telling me to live. It wasn't something I wanted to revisualize, but I still blamed myself for not being able to help her. I'll never forget the bright red the floor was stained with that day.

Perhaps I felt I could of done more for her, and in the end ,it really was my fault she's possibly one of them. I can't say for sure. I just know that Mikasa is the only person I have left by my side now. I wished things didn't end up the way they were...I wished the world wasn't so fucked...I wished...

Mikasa stood up, leaving me to my wondering thoughts, as she peeked out a window covered by a thick sheet. A slight amount of gray sunlight filtered into the room, making it obvious it was cloudy outside. You could see all the dust particles floating around the abandoned warehouse we'd been using for shelter for the past 3 weeks. Everything had a fine rust on it meaning this place had been out of business for much longer than when the outbreak happened. Honestly it made me uncomfortable using the stairs so frequently, but it also came in handy if the undead did break in. One hard kick to the screws and the stairs would go crumbling.

"It looks clear." She said letting the curtain fall back into place and coming to my side again, "We're running low on food and it's going to get colder soon. We need blankets or something to keep us warm. Let's make use of the sunlight." In other words she was telling me to get my ass up.  
"..." I tried thinking of places we had yet to search that might have those things. Wed' raided just about every building near by and I couldn't quite remember the exact area of everything. I stood, my body cracking in odd places. "Ow." I said my back making the weirdest sound.  
"Eren, you're too young to be making so much noise just by moving." Mikasa said, carefully making her way down the stairs. With each step, the platform would creek slightly, so we had to go down and up them slowly in order to prevent attracting the attention of others. It was also a good security system, in a way, to avoid intruders.

"Well you're the one who left me to sleep on the floor." I retorted, following her down.  
"...You're the one who fell out of the bed."  
"..." I felt blood rush to my face and had nothing to counter that with. I wasn't the most graceful of people, but...even in my sleep? It wasn't even a bed anyway, more like a pile of old sheets.  
We finally reached the end of the stairs, the hard concrete feeling weird against my feet, as we walked across the floor and into a room. It was filled with most of our supplies. We had another spot for our emergency stock. Yet another security procedure. It was surprising the electricity still worked as Mikasa flicked a switch on. Out of the corner of my eye a rat scurried into hiding as we entered. As barren as the food pickings were, a rat sounded like a good meal right about now.

We both pulled on light coats over us and strapped our, mostly empty, backpacks to us, making sure they wouldn't fall off too easily. I went to adjust the shoelaces of my boots as Mikasa picked up a pistol and stuck it in the back of her jeans. "It only has 5 shots left." She said saying it more like, "Don't do anything stupid." than informing me. She was the better shot than me, so she always got the gun whenever we'd find one, but even then 5 bullets left felt almost like none. We've never really had to defend ourselves, most of the time we've been able to avoid any real confrontation except the occasional zombie, but other than that our luck had been good enough to where we'd only waste one bullet on an outing if any.

I laced my boots up tightly and grabbed the, slightly bloodied, metal bat off to the side clenching it in my hands. I twirled it around, "Well...Let's do this." I said.

* * *

It was relatively chilly as we made hast down the broken roads, the wind hitting us directly in the face. The crunching of our feet was the only sound to be heard in this abandoned city. Cars were either parked perfectly along the edge of the sidewalk or crashed into another right in the middle. Debris littered the street, making it hard to walk without tripping over a pipe or...something else I didn't want to think about. It was hard to imagine that the sun even existed with how many clouds were in the sky. It honestly took me a moment to remember when the last time I even saw the sun was. What did it look like...?

We past a tree whose leaves where changing into vibrant reds, oranges, and mixed with greens. It made me second guess exactly what month it was. "Hey Mikasa?" I asked, picking up my pace, feeling myself lag behind her. She turned to me slightly, not saying anything, but letting me know I had her attention. "What month is it?"  
"Early September I believe." She responded with rather confidently, "Why?"  
"...September..." Already? It felt like only yesterday that the outbreak happened or, end of the world, as others called it. I couldn't comprehend how harsh the winter would be. Especially in a broken down warehouse if we stayed there...which wouldn't be the logical choice.  
"It's nothing." I responded finally, "Just curious."

We continued walking down familiar roads, still not running into anything unusual, although it did get dark rather fast which made me wonder what time it was. It was hard to tell with no access to the sun at all. I looked up, hoping for maybe a break in the clouds, only to notice our usual checkpoint marker. Hanging out of an entirely windowed building was the skeleton of a female worker in a navy blue suit. It always looked like she was trying to crawl out of the window in an attempt to commit suicide before meeting her ultimate end, but just seconds too late. It was a rather sick way to remember where we were, but...

"Hey Mikasa, do you-" I was cut off by her sudden stop. She held an arm out to silence me and I was unsure why as I peeked over her shoulder ahead of her. Not even 15 meters ahead was one of them, picking off the remains of someone we'd never seen before. On all of our outings there was never a body at this point so that could only mean one thing...  
"There are others here..." I breathed.  
"They can't be too far off. That body looks fresh." Mikasa whispered, keeping a watchful eye out, "The question is, will they be on our side or are they looking out for their own?"  
I gripped the handle I had on my bat tighter, observing the situation more. Upon closer inspection of the body, I saw the head was still perfectly intact...Meaning that they'd eventually come back...

"Mikasa..." I said, pointing in the direction of the zombie with my bat, "We should take care of that one...and the body..."  
She knew where I was going with this, but only shook her head, "No. We don't want to risk more of them coming out for us. I'd like to avoid any conflict if necessary..."  
"But that could be a threat to us later on." I said coming up next to her now, "You don't want to risk them coming out now, but what about later when we're closed in somewhere?"  
"Eren." She said looking up at me now, "Let's leave it for now. If it does come back to bite us in the ass, i'll do everything in my power to protect you."

I didn't want to be babysat like some toddler, I could take care of myself just fine, but I didn't have time to give a response as she walked off down an alley way, completely avoiding the zombie. I followed, making sure to avoid it's line of sight as well. Arguing right now would be the worst thing to do so I just dealt with this plan of action, but still felt it was the wrong one. Although we didn't deal with many zombies in this part of the city, it brought up the question of where exactly they all were? Maybe we were just lucky and happened to pick the best spot on the entire planet, but that didn't sit well with me. Things hadn't changed much in the past 3 weeks...why would they change now?

I kept giving myself reasons as to why we were, supposedly, safe, as Mikasa jumped up onto a trash can then onto a fire escape. We climbed our way up to the rooftop, getting a better view of the city and now able to cross from building to building without a problem. It was a lot windier up here, especially with a huge lake not too far off from our current location. It made for easy access to water, but it was also a bitch to have to wait for it to heat up to boil any bacteria out of it. Just to be on the safe side...Which we always were.

Mikasa ran a hand through her jet black hair, "So what buildings have we cleared?"  
I took a look at the rooftops, trying to remember which we went to and which we didn't. "That one. That one...and that one." I proceeded to point to three different buildings. "I know we went into that blue one too, but there wasn't much in there."  
"Mhmm...What about that red one?"  
I looked to see what one she was referring to. It was a ways off, and out of our usual territory, so I didn't know what might even be of use to us there. It was worth a shot though.

I simply held my breath and sighed, the slight cold already getting to me. "We haven't been that far yet." I said.  
"Maybe that's where the others are and they did the same thing we're about to do."  
"Ventured into uncharted territory?"  
"Exactly."

* * *

The buildings were all stationed relatively close to each other, so jumping from roof to roof didn't prove to be difficult. As we went more inward toward the center of the city, I glanced down at the streets. It slowly became more and more cluttered with infected. They walked aimlessly around, not giving us any mind, although if one of us fell, it would be a tricky situation that would most likely end with one of us dead. I felt myself become more paranoid that, somehow, a hoard of zombies would be up on one of the roofs, but it never happened. I guess they all really were the slow moving types...

Mikasa slowed down, gazing back at me. I huffed, feeling myself slightly out of breath as I placed my hands on my knees. "It's the next building over." She said "Have you seen anything unusual?"

"Not really...Just..." I swallowed another huff of air. I walked over to the edge of the building and looked down at the lifeless bumping into each other, groaning, and searching for, what I hated to think of as food. "Those things..." I finished.  
Mikasa walked over to my side and looked down with me. She remained quiet for a moment, observing the situation. "This is a lot more than expected." She said, "I wonder why they didn't spread out."  
"Yeah..."  
"What about humans? Did you see corpses?"  
"No. Just the one back at the start."  
She didn't like that answer as she pulled back from the edge "...Be more alert than usual." She said, not taking any chances.

I'd like to think as humans being on humans sides, especially at a time like this, but it was also in a time like this for humans to be the most likely to stab each other in the back, literally and symbolically. The weak don't survive. Only the strong. In order to be strong, we can only trust ourselves. Yet to be strong, don't we also need the support of the weak? Survival is one of the biggest ironies...

Mikasa walked around the roof, observing the area and planning a way to go about getting into the building. She held a finger up to her chin in thought. "This looks like an abandoned retail store, but with this many undead around, I would be surprised if there's anything left." She said  
"...How much food do we have?"I asked turning to her  
"One can."

"Do you still want to try this or should we-"  
"It's either that or we starve to death trying to find somewhere else to go." I swept my hair back and out of my face for a second, only for it to fall back into place again on my forehead. "Although I think it's obvious what we need to do after this..."  
"...But what about-"

Something appeared out of the corner of my eye. I quickly pulled up the bat, ready to fight, as I turned to my side. Mikasa quickly placed a hand on the gun hilt, pressing herself against the wall of the door way leading into the building we were on.  
"Eren what is it?" She whispered, ready to shoot at any time.  
I stared...not really sure what I saw myself on the other building. Everything was silent as I focused...trying to hear something, but I didn't. I began to think maybe it was my imagination from being paranoid, but I was positive I saw something. I kept steady, still watching. It couldn't of hide anywhere since the rooftop was open, but...After nothing showed itself, I let my guard down.  
"Must of just been m-"

"EREN."

I heard the sound of gunfire and a bullet wizzed past my head. Before I could turn around I felt the rumble of the earth and the ground begin to give way. I fell backwards as the bricks fell from under me, but not before staring into the face of something i'd never seen before. It's black coals for eyes stared right into me, it's mouth sealed shut by healed over skin leaving only the remanents of wrinkle's to define anything that used to be there. It's entire top half was much larger than it's bottom. It must of used it's massive hands to break the, already unstable, building. I couldn't make much else of it as I scrambled to grab onto something. Mikasa ran from her spot to attempt to save me, but was far too slow.

She screamed my name again as I fell out of her sight. I landed on my side onto the floor bellow with a hard thud. I winced, the throbbing sensation making it hard to stand as I held my leg. I feared it was sprained, but I didn't have time to worry about a simple mishap like that. "MIKASA!" I yelled more worried about her than me. As I looked up at the hole, my vision was quickly clouded by the shape of the monster jumping over. I could hear the thuds of it's steps as it landed on the other and ran. I could only assume the worst.

"MIKAS-"

I was cut off by yet another sound. An odd hissing echoed in the room. It was quiet at first, sounding like the rattle of a snake, but grew louder with time. I felt my heart stop as I slowly looked over into one of the corners of the room. I made out a figure, plastered to the wall, but I couldn't tell what it was. It reached up and gripped onto the ceiling with a long leg. It was at that moment I realized it had several other legs or possible arms. I couldn't take my eyes off of it as I felt my body shiver with fear. It came closer to the source of light, outstretching a hand to touch it, like it'd never seen it before. When it realized it was harmless, it came fully into it. I was right to be scared. I was right to feel terrified. Like the other creature, I'd never seen anything like this either.

I could only assume it was staring at me since, where it's eyes should of been, there was nothing but pink skin. It had no nose either, just a mouth with no lips, pulled back to show it's blood stained fangs. The back of it's skull had an odd protruding growth, almost like a rounded horn. The rest was still hidden in the darkness, but I saw something swinging behind it. I didn't know if it was attached to it's body, or if it was something else entirely.

It continued to stare at me, almost like it was waiting for me to make the first move before it made it's. It clucked it's tongue at me, making me all the more confused. I hesitated. I panicked. Which was the worst possible thing to do right now. I had no idea where Mikasa was or what she was doing. I didn't know if I could fully stand or not, but I had to try. I had to...

I realized my bat was not in my hand anymore and I looked around to see where I had possibly dropped it. Not too far off, it was laying next to an empty desk and I concluded I was in an office building of sorts. I took deep breathes to calm myself, while looking for a way out. On the completely other side of the room was the door out. I had to make a decision. Run for it or risk everything to try to get a weapon to defend myself...I took another deep breath weighing my options, trying to think of every possible scenario in a matter of seconds. Before I could regret anything...I went for it.

The beast launched itself at me out of the shadows, barely missing me as I rolled out of the way. I bumped into a nearby desk as I frantically pulled myself up. I didn't know what was outside that door and for all I knew there could be a hoard waiting for me, especially with all the noise. If I was going down right now, I might as well go with a fight. I realized the pain in my leg meant little to nothing as I leap for the bat. The creature let out a screech as it crawled over the desks, knocking over chairs and other things as it...hunted me. It felt weird to think that me, the animal that is supposed to be on top of the food chain, was being hunted. We weren't really much by ourselves though were we?

I felt the metal between my hands as I turned to meet the creatures deformed face. It knocked me over, pining me to the ground, it's horrid stench filling my nose. The only thing keeping us apart was the fact that I raised my bat in time to stick it between it's mouth. "AGH." I grinded my teeth together, trying to push it off me, but it was far too strong as it kept biting into the bat, it's several hands going to scratch at me. It managed to nail me on the cheek, the warm blood rolling down my face. My arms were shaking badly as I began to feel them give up. With every ounce of my strength, I used my legs to kick it in the gut, knocking it off to the side. It gave me just enough time to get up. It went to bite my leg, but I swirled around and smashed it's head in with the bat, against the edge of a desk, it's black blood spilling onto the floor. I hit it again and again and again, it's blood flying up and splattering my face and clothing. I wanted to make sure it was dead...I didn't care how many strikes I needed to make to make sure the job was done. I could of done it all night, but...

I stopped, my breathing coming out in deep huffs. Fear got the better of me as I backed up and stared at what I had just killed. It had the normal aspects of a human body except it had two extra sets of arms and a tail that I had just noticed. I didn't have time to dwell on what this thing was though. "Mikasa..." I said a new fear being restored in me as weaved my way around the desks and out the rooms door.

When I entered the hallway I was surprised that there weren't any of the undead wandering around. Whatever the case was, it made it easier for me. I ran down the carpeted hallway, attempting to get back to the roof, but when I reached the door and shook the handle, it was locked. "Dammit!" I cursed under my breath. Everything was silent now and I didn't know what to expect. Another one of those things I killed or...

As if on cue, I heard that same familiar hissing and my heart stopped. I stopping shaking the door and looked down the hall to see, the black blood stained creature I had thought I killed. It's head had somehow regenerated and it was standing on it's two legs instead of scurrying around on it's hands like earlier. My eyes widened as I let go of the handle.

What the fuck was this thing...

Off to the side were stairs to get to the bottom floor. I glanced at them, then back at the monster. I didn't linger any longer as I ran down them. The creature let out another hiss like roar and dropped to run on it's hands. I went as fast as my legs could carry me down to the next floor, even jumping to skip some stairs. I could hear the monster gaining behind me as it climbed down the railing with it's arms, jumping from level to level. It's horrible cries, carrying through the whole staircase. When I reached the last floor, I felt something swipe at my arm, but just barely missed making any type of cut. Instead it left holes.

I ran as fast as I could down the final stretch of hallway, only to stop in my tracks. I realized my problems were only just starting. Pressed against the clear doors was a hoard of zombies. Their hideous faces eager to dig their teeth into my skin. It wouldn't be long before they'd break through the doors...Not too far behind me was the other thing I had no idea what to call. I felt myself panic again. I had to get out! I had to get out! I had to...!

I heard the familiar shriek of the creature behind me pushing me into action again. I ran into an open room, quickly closing the door and propping a chair under the handle. It wouldn't hold long at all, but long enough for me to do something. My eyes fixed onto a window on the opposite wall. I ran to it, unlocked it, and started pulling myself through it. I thought I was home free, but my jacket got caught on one of the hooks. "Dammit!" I said as I heard the door burst open. The faceless creature charged over the fallen door, reaching towards me. I managed to pull myself free, falling out of the window and scurring out into the middle of the road.

I ran.

I kept running.

I didn't look back to see if anything was following me. I just kept running. The cold air hit my face making me realize just how badly I was sweating. My legs felt weak and I couldn't think straight. It was only then I realized I was bleeding from my lip too. I didn't know where I was going, honestly I didn't know where to go. I just needed to get away. I thought that, if you destroyed the brain, it was over right? Right?

"Dammit. Dammit. Dammit..." I kept saying as I continued running. Everything looked unfamiliar and i'm sure, if I kept running like this, i'd only be asking for more trouble. Where was Mikasa? Where would she possibly be if-

"To your left!"

I was so lost in thought I was thrown off when I heard someone yell. I threw my bat to the left as an undead came storming at me. It's head went flying across the way and it's body fell to the ground. I stopped running, completely out of breath. I had probably ran more than a few blocks away and, with this amount of shock, I was surprised I was still standing.

I looked towards where the voice came from and saw two people up on the roof. I didn't recognize them, but I could tell they were both male and about my age. The taller one made a hand motion like he was telling me to continue, "Up here! Come on. You don't have that far to go. Your friend is up here too!"  
"Mikasa..." I said again. It felt like the only thing I knew how to say at the moment, but I wanted to make sure she was alright...I wanted to make sure she as ok...

I followed the two, watching them jump from roof to roof. They didn't move like amateurs, but then again if you lived this long, you had to be smart enough to survive.

Sheer exhaustion made me fall behind as I felt my heart pound against my chest. I had to keep up though. I had to...I had to...Out of nowhere, what looked like hundreds upon hundreds of undead came running out of their hiding spots, charging towards me. My eyebrows furrowed as I let out an angry cry, "COME ON." I yelled bashing another ones brains out as I continued to run. I wanted to bash all of their bodies into nothing. I wanted to pummel them beyond recognition. I hated the virus that lived in them. I wanted all of them to be beyond dead. When would it all just end? How do you stop a virus from spreading? When does a plague officially end?

"Kid!" The other, lighter haired one yelled from the rooftop, "Go down this alley and climb up the fire escape fast!"

I saw where he indicated, and made a final dash for it, just avoiding being assaulted by another undead. I jumping into the air, hanging off the edge of the escape for a moment, but hauled myself up. A zombie pushed it's arm through the gate, clawing at my feet but I stayed close to the wall. Walking up the stairs was the hardest thing to do as I had to use the railing to support myself from falling over. When I finally reached the top, I fell to my knees, dropping my bloody bat, and heaving in every breath I could. My heart beat like crazy against my chest, making it even harder to breathe as I sucked in air.

The two who were guiding me, walked up to my side. One bent down and put a hand on my back. "Are you alright?" He asked  
I couldn't manage the breath to answer him so just nodded my head and coughed.  
"We have no time to wait for you to regain yourself if you want to save your girlfriend." the other one said.  
"Why...are you helping us?" I asked swallowing a lump in my throat. I was weary of them, sure, but if I remained down there, I would of died either way.  
I felt the one knelt down besides me hesitate before he answered, "We're in the same situation as you. Why would we harm you?"  
I managed to look up at them now. The one sitting next to me had short dark hair and freckles all across his face. The other, more assertive one, had a longer face with light hair but dark roots.

Freckle face pulled at his sweaters neck, "As much as I would like to let you rest, I have to agree, we shouldn't stay here for long."  
I used to a shaky hand to regain my bat. When I went to stand the darker haired boy tried to help me up, but I pushed him back lightly. I could do this myself.  
"Looks like you got nicked in the face huh?" The other said with a slight smile. "Didn't get bit did you?"  
"No." I said glaring at him, "I didn't. Now where's Mikasa?"  
"...She was running from one of the undead last we saw." Freckles commented.  
"Well that's-"  
"EREN." I heard a familiar cry.

I ran to the other side of the building. Down below running was none other than Mikasa.

"Eren! Where are you?!" She called out, clearly in dismay. "EREN."  
"Mikasa!" I yelled  
She snapped her head up to me, "Oh thank god Eren I thought you-"  
"Get out of the street now!" I yelled seeing the disfigured shadows begin creeping out.  
She nodded at me, looking down the alley way I had just been in. There were a few zombies, but nothing that couldn't be easily avoided. She made a sprint for the stairs. She hesitated, but swiftly moved around any of the zombies in her way with grace. She leap onto the fire escape, pulling herself up and running up to the roof to where we were. I almost expected her to stop running and collapse like I did when she reached the top, but she kept running towards me and embraced me into a hug, "Eren I thought you were dead!" She said looking at me. Tears filler her eyes. "It felt like so long we were separated I-You're not hurt are you?"  
I felt awkward at a moment like this. I wanted to hug her, but at the same time we needed to move.  
"No. I'm not hurt.." I said, "Mikasa...I was scared too, but right now we need to keep moving."  
"...Yes." She said pulling away from me, "I'm sorry."  
"What happened to that huge beast from before? The one that made me fall?"  
"I don't know. It was behind me for awhile, but then it stopped. It didn't seem to be really making an effort either."  
"What are you talking about?" The slightly, more aggressive teen spoke up  
"Some...undead thing that attacked us earlier." I answered  
"Some...undead thing." He repeated, "I see..." He cracked his knuckles, "What the hell were you guys doing out here anyways?"  
"Well we-"

"HELP."

All of our heads turned behind us. Down below was a man, who looked to be about in his early 30's, running away from a group of zombies. He tripped over something unclear, but got back up and continued to run, or rather limp. All the other zombies, who were previously interested in us, made their way towards the new prey.

"I think this is the perfect opportunity to stop talking and to start moving." the long faced one said.  
"We're just gonna leave him there?" I asked  
"...I like it as much as you do, but unlike your friend here, he's already bit."  
I looked back down at the guy to see a giant gash on his leg. He left a trail of blood behind as he limped down the street. It still didn't sit right with me. The teen rolled his eyes at me, "You seriously want to save someone who's infected right now?"  
"You don't know that."  
"Even still! He's wounded! He'd be of no help to us!"  
"But he's of use to us now right?"  
"Eren." Mikasa spoke up, "Leave it. Let's just go for now."

I stared at them. I could tell that none of them wanted to leave the person just like I did, but they weren't willing to act on it. I sighed, letting it go as Mikasa said. The two said they knew a spot we could go to for the night as we made our way down the fire escape. In the background you could hear the mans screams grow louder and louder. Every time it sent goosebumps down my spine. It just felt more and more wrong. Inevitably, we had to pass by where the guy was as stealthy as we could. The others proceeded ahead of me but I couldn't help but look at the man...his will to live draining from him as he looked around for a possible way out, but was surrounded. While the undead didn't see us, he did.

"HELP ME." He cried, reaching out to us.

I felt it pull at my heart strings, the others stopped too, but kept moving. Mikasa came back for me, "Eren...Come on."  
"..." It was strange.

I felt my mouth water.

"Eren?" Mikasa asked again quietly.

"..."

Why did I...

"Eren!"

As if something else controlling me, I ran straight towards the fallen man who was about to be torn to shreds. I could hear the cursing of the others behind me as I, attracted more zombies towards us.

It felt wrong. It felt wrong. It felt wrong. It felt...right.

I went to hit one of the zombies in the head, but was stunned to see the huge figure of the beast that attack us before. It didn't move at all as I tried my best to make it through the gathering, but it was too late. One of the undead sunk it's teeth into the mans throat, cutting off his air supply and killing him on the spot. His blood seeped to the cold ground...filling any cracks that laid dormant in the road. It was...the same color as my mom's blood.

A gun shot rang behind me as a zombie fell to the ground before attacking me from the rear. Mikasa dragged me along with the other two who lead the way to wherever they were leading us initially. I locked eyes with the giant undead one, it didn't attempt to chase us, merely watched us. Observed us...thought about us...but the undead didn't have thoughts did they?

We ran into a shady looking building, the two locking and bolting up the door as Mikasa looked at me strangely, "Eren are you ok?" She asked, "You were-"

"What the fuck were you thinking?!" The boy with two toned hair asked, walking aggressively towards me. He grabbed my collar, pushing me, then letting me go, causing me to stumble over my own feet. "You could of got us all killed with that stunt you pulled back there!" He spat not trying to cover the anger in his face, "You're lucky we even stayed behind to save your asses! "

I wiped the blood from my mouth with my jacket sleeve as I stared back at him with the same fierce look he was giving me. I didn't know who this guy thought he was, but I wasn't about to let him push me around at his will. My blood began to boil as I did everything in my power to prevent my body from shaking anymore than it already was.  
"Eren!" Mikasa said coming to my side and holding me back. She could read me better than anyone. "Eren don't-!" She tried coaxing me, but to no avail. I shoved past her and closed the gap between me and the other teen, getting in his face like he did mine. "We could of saved him! Half of the population is cleared out and you want to think about yourself?!" I gripped the other's shirt, shoving him into a nearby broken down dresser.

The other, quieter teen, who was with him began to step in, but I was thrown back again as the guy stood up. "You know, did you think that if maybe, just maybe, you thought for a second before jumping into things, we wouldn't have attracted that huge Bomber and be in this situation in the first place?"  
The pounding thuds from the zombies blocked off outside echoed through the door. Their nails scraping against the wood as their horrible moans sent chills down my spine, but I kept my eyes on the one in front of me. He was the enemy right now and I wasn't sure what he'd do. He continued to stare me down as well, i'm not sure if he was waiting for an answer or not, but I was in no mood to talk. I didn't know exactly what he meant by attract either...

Mikasa stood not too far behind me, ready to jump in and take charge is necessary. The other boy stood nervously off to the side, but also looked ready to break up a possible fight as well. I balled my hand into a fist and raised it up. I heard Mikasa's feet move slightly and her breathing stop, but I dropped my hand to the side and let the fist unfold as I covered my face and laughed to myself. "We shouldn't be fighting each other." I said, "We should be fighting them!" I uncovered my face and pointed at the door, the only thing keeping us alive right now. "They're the real enemy! Yeah I could of got us killed, but be thankful we're fucking alive and not like that guy we failed to save!"

"But what happens when-" The other hesitated for a moment when he noticed his friend glance his way.  
"Jean," He held a hand up as if to tell him to stand down, "I think we should drop it. I understand where you're coming from, but let's just deal with the current situation for now. We can dwell on what happened later." The freckled boy spoke up calming down his friend.  
The boy, referred to as Jean, gritted his teeth and let his anger go by kicking the dresser I pushed him against. He didn't hit it too hard, but I couldn't help but think it might of hurt him a bit.

I heard both Mikasa and the other teen let out a heavy sign of relief. "So...since we're all so friendly with each other, what are your names?" Mikasa asked  
"Well..." The freckled boy scratched the back of his head and let off an almost automatic bashful, nervous, smile, "My name is Marco Bodt and he is-"  
"Jean." The other spoke up, turning to face us again. He didn't looked too pleased with the situation and like he'd rather throw himself to the zombies now, or rather, throw us to the hoard. "Jean Kirschtein." 

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A/N: Alright, I've finally got this show on the road. 8') These things take me forever to write, but I hope to update at least once a week! As for a certain day...i'm not sure, but I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Reviews are much appreciated.


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